All Posts By

Marijean

Marijean Oldham (Jaggers), a social media specialist and public relations professional, is president and CEO of Jaggers Communications LLC, a strategic communications firm based in Charlottesville, Va.

Sep 14
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Is Social Media Really Worth My Time?

By Communications, Social Media
Chester Hull

Chester Hull, Prosound

Chester Hull is a Caller Experience Expert at Prosound, and an intense proponent of helping companies provide outstanding experiences in all realms of customer interaction. He writes the Prosound Blog at www.prosoundusa.com/blog and you can connect by following Chester at facebook.com/chesterhull or twitter.com/chesterhull.

“How should I use social media to reach the right people?”

“How will I know if social media is ‘working’ for me?”

“I’m too busy to be a social media expert.”

I hear these a lot, especially from business people. It seems that so many businesses hesitate jumping in to the social media pool because they are afraid they will ‘fail’ or somehow not do it right (whatever those things mean!).

Return on Investment?

But rather than only measuring the return on your investment in time dedicated to social media for your business, here’s a another way to consider the value of social media. Especially if you are a business serving other businesses.

Provide Value

We follow all our clients on whatever social media platform they use. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. And we use that to help us provide extra value to our clients. For example: Today I noticed that one of our clients, the Charlottesville Albemarle Airport was conducting it’s Live Fire Training and Triennial Disaster Drill. I emailed the Deputy Executive Director and Director of Marketing to ask if we could help by providing an overhead announcement message that would educate passengers and visitors of the training. This would provide interest and information, as well as keeping people from panicking when they saw 200 participants from all the local emergency service agencies converging on the south end of the airport! The need to create an realistic environment includes the use of role players, real equipment, and actual emergency techniques. That could get pretty intense! And for those who would be unaware, could provide a storm of questions that the airport staff would have to answer from worried passengers! A regular announcement throughout the day would go a long ways to informing and calming passengers’ concerns.

Sale! Sale! Sale!

We’ve had similar opportunities as clients promote sales, events, promotions, or new releases. Believe me, your clients don’t always remember to share the details with you directly. But you can use social media to help keep you in the loop!

Relevant Help

Following clients allows businesses to be proactive about reaching out to clients that may be overwhelmed by all the planning and execution of an event or promotion! Instead of waiting (and hoping!) they remember to ask for your help, you will be able to offer relevant, timely help right when they may need it most. Securing your place as not just a service provider, but a true business partner…a company they can depend on to help them deliver outstanding service!

Value depends on what you measure

If you only think of social media as you speaking to your audience, you will be missing out on the value of listening to your clients and prospects. Social media isn’t just about what return you can get out of it. It’s also about finding out what you can do to add value to your clients, make their lives easier, or help them in some way.. Done well, and done right, they’ll thank you for it!

 

 

Sep 13
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Jaggers Communications Offers Twitter for Business Workshop

By Jaggers Communications News

*MEDIA ALERT*

For more information, contact:

Marijean Jaggers
434.973.0645
mjaggers@jaggerscommunications.com

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

WHAT: Public relations firm Jaggers Communications and nationally-recognized social media educator Marijean Jaggers offer a Twitter for Business lunch time session. The workshop offers information for businesses to help increase social networks, reach business communications goals and develop the right kind of relationships. This session will cover best practices, Twitter management tools and methods of measuring success.

 WHEN: Friday, Sept. 23, Noon to 1p.m. Fee: $49. Register online: http://twitterforbusinesscville.eventbrite.com/

 WHERE: OpenSpace, (next to ACAC downtown) 455 Second Street SE, Ste. 100, Charlottesville, VA 22902. Parking is available on Second Street or Garrett Street.

 WHO: This session is $49 to attend and is open to the public. Business owners, employees and marketers should attend.

 NOTE: Participants should bring a brown bag lunch. Drinks and dessert will be provided.

 

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About Jaggers Communications

Jaggers Communications is a strategic communications firm that provides organizations in health care, education and science-based business with social media consulting, public relations support and reputation management strategy. The firm was founded in 2011 to serve businesses and nonprofits with a need for strategic communications with effective reach. www.jaggerscommunications.com

 

Sep 13
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Twitter for Non-Traditional Business: When Contests and Customer Service Don’t Apply

By Social Media
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/RCiprotti/status/113406455343882240″]

I’m intrigued by my friend Rachel’s suggestion to blog about Twitter. I know her background is primarily serving nonprofits — and that’s where the “non-traditional” viewpoint comes from. It’s true that contests and customer service have far less applicability when the Twitter account is connected to an association, a charity or a service organization.

Twitter, as in blogging or any online presence representative of ANY organization (corporate, for profit, non profit), should share the stories of the organization.

Those stories can be shared in 140 characters (pro tip: limit to 120 for re-sharing ease) or can link to web content (i.e. blog posts). Ideally, the organization is using Twitter to drive followers to content on the organization’s home base — it’s website — where the engagement and interaction can be measured and managed.

If Twitter followers are inclined to follow organizations only because they’re providing special offers, coupons, contests, etc. then this approach is not going to attract that kind of user. With genuine, regular engagement the interaction will be real and meaningful (contest interaction rarely is).

Remember, with nonprofits, the endgame typically involves fundraising and donations that keep the organization acting on its mission. It’s relationship development, and all interaction, no matter the vehicle, should keep that in mind.

 

 

Sep 12
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What is the Difference between Brand and Reputation?

By Uncategorized

The definition of brand I’ve offered readers of this blog is this:

Your Brand is the Promise you Make and Keep When Interacting with Your Community

So how is this different from your company’s reputation? It’s difficult to discern because in some cases, reputation is an acceptable, and sometimes recommended substitution for the word brand. In fact, it’s often easier for employees to grasp and come together around supporting and protecting the reputation of a company (rather than supporting a brand.)

People understand the concept of reputation, and striving to have a good reputation.

This is how I think of it: a brand depends on consistency to create a shared perception among the constituency. A reputation can be swayed by a single experience or incident. Managing a reputation often depends on managing expectations.

Think of it this way — if you’re planning to have dinner at McDonald’s, you have low expectations. The reputation of that meal is confirmed through experience. The brand perception is reached when dinner at ANY McDonald’s provides the same experience. It’s tricky; they’re closely related, but there is a difference.

Do you agree?

Sep 09
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WTF? Friday: Four Ways Facebook and LinkedIn are Different

By Communications
[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/TimFree/status/112157907902136322″]

My friend Tim fired off a cranky tweet this morning — and I agree with it wholeheartedly. Four ways Facebook and LinkedIn are different:

  1. LinkedIn is specifically for business relationships; for the most part, your friends on Facebook aren’t there to do business.
  2. A person’s LinkedIn profile is their resume. A person’s Facebook profile often tells you far less about the person professionally, and more about them personally.
  3. We connect to people on LinkedIn to improve our careers, to endorse others with whom we do business and to seek new opportunities. We connect with people on Facebook to find out if that guy we went to high school with is still hot. (Pro tip: he’s not.)
  4. Facebook calls connections “friends” which is amusing and mislabeled. I’m not really friends with most of the people I’ve “friended” on Facebook. LinkedIn connections, however, should be held to a higher standard; it will happen you will be the link between person A and person B and if person A asks you for a reference regarding person B, you don’t want to say, “I don’t really know them.”

So don’t go accepting all those offers to connect on LinkedIn willy-nilly, you dope. Make sure they’re people with whom you actually have a relationship you can reference.